2007 Summer Tour- Week Two Journal
Monday, June 18, 2007
By: Wendimere Reilly
It’s Sunday night, June 3rd. After enjoying a top notch dining experience at Pure Food and Wine in NYC it was time to head back to base camp and move onward, Destination Hastings-on-Hudson. Traveling through the Bronx with The Health Chic Mobile proved to be an interesting drive. The roads are in dire need of repair and the animalistic driving behaviors brought me to the conclusion that I could probably make a ton of money by bringing Kava Kava to the Bronx.
Several hours later we arrived at our destination slightly shaken but in one piece, only to find out that we wouldn’t fit in our pre-arranged parking space. We ended up in the A&P parking lot for the night. After checking in at A Good Yarn/Rivertown Book Shop we began exploring the town. The owner of the book shop directed us to Comfort, a small, popular cafe serving up local and organic meals.
As luck would have it, we had the opportunity to meet with owner John, a nice guy with big plans for a larger, upscale organic restaurant across the street. He told us that he just can’t keep up with the demand, feeding over 250 people daily out of his 14-seat establishment. And it seems like everyone we talked to loves John, “great guy, great place” was echoed over and over. Folks come from all of the neighboring boroughs, some are even sent by their doctors for John’s nourishing plates of good tasting good for you- real food.
On Tuesday we returned to A Good Yarn/Rivertown Book Shop for our first bookstore book signing. This was a last minute addition and although the crowd was light our event was quite successful. It turns out that Amanda and her staff were quite interested in our adventure- so we had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the booksellers themselves.
A Good Yarn started as just that- a yarn shop but added books to help fill up the space. It’s been an institution in Hastings since 1974. And a great little book nook it is at that. Combining personal service and a quaint homey atmosphere with the latest in technology- the customer receives the best of both worlds.
While I was there a customer came in looking for a fiction book that was centered around Alaska. Amanda pondered the question for a moment, mentioned a possible author and his writing style and then in seconds pulled up a full description of the book on her computer. I love to see businesses that really just get it right!!
Our next stop is NJ, via the Bronx once again- Enough said on that matter.
We have a day to explore northern NJ before our meeting with the cookie experts at Aunt Gussie’s. We ended up in the shopping village of Montclair and a serendipitous meeting with the owners of Terra Tea Shop & EcoMart. We expect to hear lots of good things from this small but well stocked fair-trade boutique.
Finally, it’s time to meet our friends from Aunt Gussie’s, bakers of our favorite Spelt Almond Biscotti and Spelt Everything Crackers. After our visit and loaded with cookies and crackers we head to Trenton for dinner and lively conversation with our friends and long time Airstreamers, Frank and Joan Carson.
